Bauke Mollema takes over the red jersey after the first really tough mountaintop finish of the race

Daniel Martin (Garmin-Cervélo) took his first ever victory in a Grand Tour, taking stage nine of the Vuelta a España between Villacastín and Sierra de Bejar, La Covatilla. The 25-year-old English born Irishman, who is the nephew of 1987 triple-crown winner Stephen Roche, jumped away from the rest of a highly select group of six at the top of the 1970 metre high climb, to win by a clear margin over the previous day’s third place finisher Bauke Mollema (Rabobank).

Juan José Cobo (Geox-TMC) took third place, three seconds back, just ahead of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome (both Team Sky), who had done all of the work to pull the group clear. The final rider in the leading six was Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), who finished just clear of the first chasing group.

The winning move was formed after an attack from Martin, then joined by Nibali, had been chased down by Froome; the pace set by the Team Sky rider, on behalf of team captain Wiggins, thinned the group down to six on the approach to the finish.

“There was a headwind but I was feeling good,” said Martin after the stage. “Vincenzo Nibali caught me and I understood that it would be difficult for us to stay in the lead ‘til the end because of the wind. The return of Bradley Wiggins has been impressive. I waited for the sprint and I’m glad I did it well.

“I’m very happy for my team Garmin-Cervélo,” he added. “They’ve worked a lot for me. It means that we can win sprints but also mountain stages.”

The final climb at the end of the 183km stage went unexpectedly badly for race leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), who cracked inside the final three kilometres and lost 50 seconds to the stage winner. Thanks to the twelve-second time bonus for his second place Mollema, who started the day 59 seconds back, edges ahead of the Catalan rider to take the red jersey by a single second.

The stage victory sees Martin move up ten places from 22nd to twelfth and, instead of being 2’02” behind Rodriguez, the Irishman is now just 55 seconds behind Mollema. With the next stage being a 47km time trial he could move even further up against the climbers ahead, but he is not currently thinking that far ahead.

“I haven’t thought about that yet,” he explained. “Every day I think that I’m doing a one-day race. I’ve never done such a long time trial before. It’ll be windy on flat roads. It’s not exactly what I’m good at. I prefer just to think about today, really.”

The fireworks went off on the final climb after the four-man move of Sebastian Lang (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Jose Vicente Toribio (Andalucia-Caja Granada), and Martin Keizer and Pim Ligthart (both Vacansoliel-DCM) had been neutralised. Lang, who had initiated the move, resisted the longest on the steep slopes of La Covatilla, but was caught with just over six kilometres to go.

The first true mountaintop finish of the race

With the slopes to the stage four finish at Sierra Nevada relatively gentle, the stage to Sierra de Bejar, La Covatilla was regarded by many as the first true mountaintop finish of the race. The 18.2km 1st category climb was to come at the end of a gently rolling stage, whose only other obstacles consisted of the 3rd category Puerto de la Cruz de Hierro – which was climbed almost immediately, and the unclassified Puerto de Villatoro.

The last time the Vuelta visited the climb to La Covatilla, the stage was won by Danilo Di Luca (then Liquigas, now Katusha), ahead of Janez Brajkovic (Discovery Channel/RadioShack) and Andrey Kashechkin (Astana). Di Luca was not in the race this time, but Brajkovic and Kashechkin were.

“We arrived about 80 riders together at the bottom of the last climb”, the Kazakh rider said. “It was hot and the asphalt wasn’t nice. Di Luca’s team made the selection and we formed a group or five or six riders at the front. It’s a great uphill finish. I’ll do my best to help Fredrik Kessiakoff to arrive the closest possible to Rodríguez. Katusha is the team that dominates the race here.”

Mollema was optimistic about his own prospects in the stage, especially following his third place on the steep climb to the finish the day before. “I was really pleased with my performance”, said the Dutchman. “To be able to take some time bonus on such a steep climb was great.

“It’s a different type of stage today but I hope to make the top 5,” he added.

Once again the break of the day escapes in several pieces

With the peloton hitting the slopes of the Puerto de la Cruz de Hierroalmost immediately, there were several attempted breaks right from the start. A nine-rider group got away inside the first kilometre, including former race leader Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), but Rodriguez’ Katusha team maintained a steady pace and soon pulled it back.

The group did stay away long enough for Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) to take the three points over the top of the climb, to give the Italian rider a provisional lead in the polka dot jersey standings; it was all together again after eleven kilometres.

After 15km, on the steady descent that followed the climb, Lang made his move and the Katusha team allowed him to go. Once he had a decent lead Toibio set off in pursuit of the German – who was riding his third Grand Tour of the year – and, as the Andalucia-Caja Granada rider steadily reeled Lang in, the Vacansoliel-DCM duo of Keizer and Ligthart made their own move.

Toribio caught Lang after 26km, while Keizer and Ligthart joined them after 45km, by which time they were more than eight minutes clear of the peloton.

For the first time since stage two there was no Cofidis rider in the break. “My legs and my directeur sportif prevent me from attacking for a third day in a row today,” said Julien Fouchard, who’d represented the French team up the road on stages seven and eight. I’ll go on the attack again after the rest day.”

With such a tough finish to the stage, the Katusha team was quite happy to give the four rabbits plenty of time. Dutch champion Ligthart was the best placed of the quartet, but he was 53’55” behind in 102nd place.

After 74km the break’s advantage reached its maximum of 10’35”. As non-climbers though, the four riders in front would need all of this and more at the bottom of the climb if they were to win the stage, and the Katusha team had begun the slow, steady task of pulling them back.

The break is pulled back as the favourites' teams begin the chase

Katusha had been joined at the front by Lampre-ISD, but there was no urgency in the chase. Lang rolled over the line to take the first intermediate sprint of the day, in Guijuelo with 47km to go, and the peloton crossed the line some 7’06” back.

With 41.5km to go though, with the pace of the break slowing, there was a conference between Lang and the two Vacansoleil-DCM riders. Keizer seemed to indicate that he could go no further and Lang jumped away; only Ligthart went with him and the two riders rode away.

How much the Spanish Toribio knew of what was being discussed was unclear, but the Andalucia-Caja Granada rider was unable to respond to the others and began to drift back towards the peloton with Keizer.

With 30km Lang and Ligthart’s lead was 2’30” back to the other two, with the peloton still at 6’30” and, inside the final 25km, Euskaltel-Euskadi came forward to help with the chase and it was cut to 5’10”.

Lang again took the second intermediate sprint in Bejar with 18.2km to go, just before the start of the climb. 3’29” later the peloton came through as Rodriguez cheekily jumped ahead to take the final point and, more importantly, the remaining two-second time bonus.

Katusha took over the lead of the peloton once more and, with 12km to go, it had cut Lang and Ligthart’s lead to 2’12”.

Lampre-ISD, then Rabobank came forward as the gap began to tumble. Tom Slagter (Rabobank) and Dario Cataldo (Quick Step) move off the front with 11km to go but the pace of the peloton behind them meant that they were soon back in the fold.

Just before the leaders reached the 10km to go banner, and with their advantage down to just 1’30”, Lang dropped Ligthart and went on alone. Katusha was on the front again, with most of the Liquigas-Cannondale team lurking behind, and at the banner the gap was down to 1’13”.

The break is over and the fireworks begin

Ligthart was picked up just as he reached the 9km banner, but Lang still held a lead of 1’02”. Liquigas-Cannondale took over the peloton, then Lampre-ISD but, a kilometre later, the German had actually increased his advantage by a second.

As the climb steepened suddenly though, and, as a number of riders began to detach from the rear of the peloton, Lang’s lead plummeted to just 22 seconds by the 7km to go point.

He managed to survive for just a few hundred metres further, but was caught with around 6.5km remaining.

The first attack from the peloton came from Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis), and the Estonian was followed by Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), Jurgen Van Den Broeck, and Sergio Pardilla (Movistar), who detached from the front of the peloton.

Nibali brought the attack back but the effect on the back of the peloton was devastating; Igor Antón (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who had appeared to have recovered form his indifferent first week, was dropped as the peloton was reduced to around twenty riders.

Red jersey Rodriguez, who had been expected to thrive on the climb and possibly win the stage, was instead suffering near the rear of the strung out line.

The next move came from Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick Step), who managed to get a small gap. Nibali jumped after the Belgian, with Van Den Broeck on his wheel but it all came back together shortly afterwards.

Two Irish cousins escape and one of them makes it stick

Just before the 5km to go banner Martin put in his attack, which was immediately more successful than any previously. He was joined straight away by Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) and, for a few hundred metres the two Irish cousins rode together ahead of the peloton. Martin soon dropped Roche though, and set off alone.

Nibali recognised the danger of the Irishman’s move and set off in pursuit, followed by Seeldrayers and Pardilla, and caught up with Martin just after 4km banner. With 3.5km to go the two of them led by 12 seconds, but Froome had taken control of the front and was pulling them back.

Froome’s pace put a number of riders into difficultly, including Scarponi, who was now at the back of the line. The Italian was dropped shortly afterwards, with Rodriguez following just before the 3km banner, along with Nieve and Luis León Sanchez (Rabobank).

With a little more than 2km to go Froome managed to pull up to Martin and Nibali, and Wiggins took over the lead. There were just six at the front now, and the British champion was riding hard to make sure nobody could come back.

Rodriguez was 32 seconds back now, and was dropped by the Nieve/Sanchez group.

“Today had originally been about me trying to limit my losses as much as possible to guys like Van den Broeck and Rodriguez but I surprised myself,” said Wiggins at the finish.

“I didn’t think I’d be as good as that as it was the first all-out summit finish I’d done since the [Critérium du] Dauphiné,” he added. “Obviously Sierra Nevada came earlier this week but everyone cancelled each other out a bit on there.”

Under the flamme rouge, with one kilometre remaining, Wiggins was still doing all of the work but, as the road began to level out with a few hundred metres to go, Martin jumped from near the back of the line. Mollema tried to catch the Irishman as he headed to the finish to take his maiden Grand Tour stage, with the Dutchman a few lengths behind.

Cobo, Wiggins, Froome and Nibali followed over within a few seconds, with Taaramäe leading the next group over just behind the Liquigas-Cannondale rider.

Rodriguez finished 50 seconds down in 25th place, losing his red jersey to Mollema by a single second. Scarponi fared even worse, with the Italian losing 1’50”, and likely any chance of winning the Vuelta overall.